Yep, I said it. I want you to fall flat on your face today.
Today, I want you to go out (or stay inside) and do something you have never done before. Something so ridiculously out of the norm for you, that there is no possible way you can achieve this task. I am talking crazy insane. I am talking about you doing that thing. You know that thing you have dreamed about doing for so long, but for whatever reason, never took that first step. Yes, that thing. Now go do it! Then email me and tell me what you did. I am here waiting to send you an email to congratulate you on your failure.
Do you think that sounds stupid? That I am hoping, wait, wanting you to fail. On top of that, I am dying to congratulate you on your failure. Well, guess what: your thought process is the problem, and that’s not entirely all your fault.
Somewhere along the way we have deemed the fact that if a person fails at something that they are a loser, stupid or even worse worthless. Instead, we should be cheering on people who fail. Those are the people brave enough to try and change things. Those are the people who are inventors of what the future holds. Those are the people who are smarter than we can ever be. Those are the people willing to take the risks.
The fear of them failing is nothing in comparison to the satisfaction of success they plan to achieve. Their identity, failures, and success are only defined by them. No one else. If we gave up every time we failed we would never walk, eat and much less talk. You at one time were learning to crawl. Do you think you crawled successfully the first time? No, but every time you failed and landed on your face or your bum, you cried and yelled then sucked it up and tried again. Because you were determined. Also, alongside you was a cheering section. They were encouraging you to get up and try again. Praising all your failed attempts. Eventually, you acquired the skills you needed and BAM! - you are crawling.
This same concept is true no matter how old you are. No one expects you to be perfect on your first attempt. Well, besides yourself, of course, for some unknown reason. The expectation is for you to fail. It is at the point of failure when you grow the most. You go back reevaluate, study more, readjust, learn more skills, and then go back after it again. If you are always playing it safe, you will never know your full potential.
Will it be easy? Hell, no. Will it be scary? Hell, yes. Will it be worth the struggle? Hell, yeah!
Let me ask you a question. How different would your life look if you failed more often? I know I would never be writing this article today. I would still be holding on to this deep dark secret that I always wanted to write. True story, my husband actually bought me a book for Christmas one year, when we first started dating, on Getting Published for Dummies. I tried not to take the dummy part too personal.
Instead of reading the book and putting myself out there. I let the book just sit there and collect dust. I played it safe. I knew when I started I wasn’t going to be great. I knew I would get some nasty mean comments that would hurt my feelings. Comments that I would allow to literally shut me down and make me quit writing.
It never occurred to me that people would actually enjoy reading what I had to say. I also never thought that my words would help anyone. My only regret is not starting sooner.
Your fear of failure is holding you back from succeeding. What big adventure are you ready to fail at?
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